HIS 105 Chapter 21
Who were the Red Turbans?
A Chinese religious sect that rose in rebellion in 1351 Before he became the first Ming emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang joined the Red Turban rebels and rose rapidly in their midst.
What commodity did China most seek from Europe in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries?
Silver European products were not in demand in China, but silver was. Japan had supplied much of China's silver, but with the development of silver mines in the New World, European traders began supplying large quantities of silver to China, allowing the expansion of China's economy
What was the purpose of the banner system instituted by the Manchu leader Nurhaci?
To form cohesive units for his armies by dividing soldiers into companies Nurhaci created a new social basis for his armies, which were organized in units called banners. Each banner was made up of a set of military companies and included the families and slaves of the soldiers.
Which of the following statements best describes Emperor Taizu's relationship with men of education and learning?
He was highly ambivalent and often deeply suspicious of intellectuals. He feared that scholars could criticize him in covert ways and even had educated men humiliated and beaten in public.
What caused the widespread famine that disrupted Ming society and contributed to the decline of the Ming Dynasty?
A series of natural disasters and climate change Natural disasters, including floods, droughts, locusts, and epidemics, ravaged one region after another. At the same time, a "little ice age" brought a drop in average temperatures that shortened the growing season and reduced harvests. The result was widespread famine and hardship, which led to rebellions.
Which of the following statements characterizes the Korean yangban, or the elite?
A small number of yangban families kept tight control on the government during the years of the Chosŏn Dynasty. About two dozen yangban families dominated the civil service examinations, and as a result, commoners had little chance to enter service.
How was the city of Beijing laid out under the Ming emperor Chengzu in the early fifteenth century?
As a planned city with forty-foot-high walls Constructed between 1407 and 1420, Beijing was a planned city. The main outer walls were forty feet high and nearly fifteen miles around, pierced by nine gates. Inside was the Imperial City, with government offices, and within that was the palace itself, called the Forbidden City, which had close to ten thousand rooms.
Muromachi culture, distinguished by its association with Zen Buddhism, was characteristic of which Japanese shogunate?
Ashikaga The Ashikaga Shogunate (1338-1573) returned the Japanese government to Kyoto and helped launch, during the fifteenth century, the great age of Zen-influenced Muromachi culture.
What area of Western knowledge particularly impressed the Chinese in the seventeenth century?
Astronomy The Qing court was impressed with the Jesuits' skill in astronomy and quickly appointed Jesuits to the Board of Astronomy. In 1674 the emperor asked them to re-equip the observatory with European instruments.
How did Toyotomi Hideyoshi pacify the other daimyos when he unified Japan under his control?
By awarding them new lands and military positions Hideyoshi soothed the vanquished daimyo as Nobunaga had done—with lands and military positions—but he also required them to swear allegiance and to obey him down to the smallest detail.
How did Japan's shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu effectively control the regional lords?
By forcing them to spend alternate years in the capital Ieyasu set up the alternate residence system, which compelled the daimyo, or regional lords, to live in Edo every other year and to leave their wives and sons there permanently, essentially as hostages. This arrangement had obvious advantages: the shogun could keep tabs on the daimyo, control them through their wives and children, and weaken them financially with the burden of maintaining two residences.
Beginning in 1673, what did the Jesuits begin to manufacture for Emperor Qianlong?
Cannon The emperor insisted that the Jesuits manufacture cannon for him and supervise gunnery practice.
What military technology gave the Qing Dynasty an advantage over the Mongols and allowed the Qing to conquer the steppes?
Cannon and muskets Cannon and muskets gave Qing forces military superiority over the Mongols, who were armed only with bows and arrows.
What was China's reputation in Europe in the early eighteenth century?
China enjoyed a positive reputation. Voltaire saw advantages in the Chinese political system, and its medical practices drew considerable interest.
Between 1400 and 1800, East Asia used what major currency for trade?
Chinese Korea and Japan relied on Chinese coinage.
Why did local Chinese officials allow the Portuguese to set up the trading port at Macao?
Chinese officials decided it was the only way to regulate trade. In 1557 local Chinese officials, without consulting Beijing, allowed the Portuguese to set up a trading post at the uninhabited land of Macao, near the mouth of the Pearl River.
What group concerned the Tokugawa shoguns enough to limit the contacts between Japan and Europe?
Christian missionaries After 1639, Japan limited its contacts with the outside world because of concerns about both the loyalty of subjects converted to Christianity by European missionaries and the imperialist ambitions of European powers.
What art form was perfected in Japan's Tokugawa period?
Color woodblock printing The art of color woodblock printing was perfected during this period. Many of the surviving prints, made for a popular audience, depict the theater and women of the entertainment quarters.
What was the cause of the 1467 civil war in Japan?
Disagreements over who would be the next shogun Civil war began in Kyoto in 1467 as a struggle over succession to the shogunate. Rival claimants and their followers used arson as their chief weapon and burned down temples and mansions, destroying much of the city and its treasures. Once Kyoto was laid waste, war spread to outlying areas.
What were the so-called family-style management principles that were devised during the Tokugawa Shogunate?
Distinct patterns for family business operations Japanese merchant families devised distinct patterns and procedures for their business operations. What today are called "family-style management principles" determined the age of apprenticeship, the employee's detachment from past social relations and adherence to the norms of a particular family business, salaries, seniority as the basis of promotion, and the time for retirement.
How did one achieve high status in Ming China?
Education and bureaucratic position Although China had no hereditary, titled aristocracy, it did have an elite whose status was based above all on government office acquired through education.
What defined the elite class in Ming China?
Education and bureaucratic position Although China had no hereditary, titled aristocracy, it did have an elite whose status was based above all on government office acquired through education.
Which Chinese emperor built the Forbidden City in the early fifteenth century?
Emperor Chengzu, the Yongle emperor Chengzu built Beijing with the Imperial City and the palace, called the Forbidden City, at its core.
The religious and political quarrel between the Jesuits and the Franciscans and Dominicans led to what decision in China in 1715?
Emperor Kangxi forbade all Christian missionary work in China. Kangxi was angry that the pope had rejected the Jesuit's belief that Confucianism was compatible with Christianity.
Which factor contributed to China's population growth under the Qing Dynasty?
Expanded use of New World crops Between 1700 and 1800, the Chinese population seems to have nearly doubled, from about 150 million to over 300 million. Population growth during the eighteenth century has been attributed to many factors: global warming that extended the growing season, expanded used of New World crops, slowing of the spread of new diseases that had accompanied the sixteenth-century expansion of global traffic, and the efficiency of the Qing government in providing relief in times of famine.
What was one of the legacies of the work of Francis Xavier in western Japan?
He won many Christian converts among the poor and even some daimyo. After being expelled from Kyushu, Xavier travelled as far as Kyoto seeking converts; he then set his sights on China, but died off its coast in 1522.
How did the Ming emperor Taizu seek to create a self-sufficient military force?
He provided military garrisons with large tracts of land. Soldiers were to cultivate this land to provide their own food, but the garrisons were rarely self-sufficient.
What Japanese word also means "accomplished persons"?
Geishas Desperately poor parents sometimes sold their daughters to entertainment houses (as they did in China and medieval Europe), and the most attractive or talented girls, trained in singing, dancing, and conversational arts, became courtesans, later called geishas, or "accomplished persons."
What goal did Zhu Yuanzhang, or Taizu, have when he first became emperor and founder of the Ming Dynasty?
Great job! The correct answer is: Help China's poor farmers Zhu Yuanzhang hoped to ease the lives of China's poor farmers by making taxes more fair and by persuading them to live harmoniously and to work contentedly in their occupations.
What was one of the results of the Jesuit Matteo Ricci's efforts to convert the educated class in China to Christianity?
He introduced the educated Chinese to Western geography, astronomy, and Euclidian mathematics. Ricci worked in Macao, Nanjing, and then Beijing and won some high-level converts, while also introducing them to Western scientific ideas.
How did the Qianlong emperor of the Qing Dynasty use language to promote unity within his empire?
He learned numerous languages to hold the multiethnic empire together. Qianlong understood that the Qing's capacity to hold the multiethnic empire together rested on their ability to appeal to all those they ruled. Besides speaking Manchu and Chinese, Qianlong learned to converse in Mongolian, Uighur, Tibetan, and Tangut, and he addressed envoys in their own languages.
How did Ming emperor Taizu try to help the poor of China?
He ordered a full-scale registration of cultivated land and population. To lighten the weight of government taxes and compulsory labor, he ordered a full-scale registration of cultivated land and population so that these burdens could be assessed more fairly.
What goal did Zhu Yuanzhang, or Taizu, have when he first became emperor and founder of the Ming Dynasty?
Help China's poor farmers Zhu Yuanzhang hoped to ease the lives of China's poor farmers by making taxes more fair and by persuading them to live harmoniously and to work contentedly in their occupations.
The Buddhist priest Keinan recorded the Japanese landing in Korea with these words: "The very fields and hillsides have been put to the fire, not to speak of the forts. People are put to the sword, or they are shackled with chains and bamboo tubes choking the neck. Parents sobbing for their children, children searching for their parents—never before have I seen such a pitiable sight." What does this memoir tell us about the Japanese landing?
Hideyoshi intended to conquer and subjugate the Koreans. Although Hideyoshi told the Koreans he only wanted to pass through their territory, the actions of his troops suggest that their purpose was to conquer Korea.
Which of the following statements reflects the attitude of high officials to the traditions of Chinese imperial rule?
High officials were often compelled to work around obstinate emperors. Officials could do little to control strong emperors who often acted erratically and resented the influence of officials.
Prior to their assumption of power in China, what provided the main livelihood for the Manchus?
Hunting and farming The Manchus were a settled people who hunted, fished, and farmed for a living.
Which of the following was a major reason for steady population growth and, subsequently, the growth of markets, towns, and small cities in Ming China?
Increased food production Increased food production led to steady population growth and the multiplication of markets, towns, and small cities. Larger towns had permanent shops; smaller towns had periodic markets convening every five or ten days.
Although the position of upper-class women in Tokugawa Japan was somewhat worse than in earlier periods, what was one benefit they gained over previous periods?
It became increasingly difficult for husbands to divorce them. Although husbands alone could initiate divorce in the upper classes, the incidence of divorce was relatively low in this group.
How did European influence continue to trickle into Japan after it closed its country in 1639?
It came through the Dutch enclave of Deshima on a small island in Nagasaki harbor. It was through this Dutch enclave that a stream of Western ideas and inventions continued to trickle into Japan.
How did the Lotus League react to the political chaos of the civil war in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Japan?
It established a commoner-run government that collected taxes. During the civil war, the Lotus League, a commoner-led religious sect united by faith in the saving power of the Lotus Sutra, set up a commoner-run government that collected taxes and settled disputes.
Refer to the map The Qing Empire, ca. 1800 to answer the following question. Click the image to view full-size. Based on the map, which of the following statements describes the Qing Empire?
It incorporated many diverse cultural groups. The map divides the empire by major cultural group and shows that the empire included a diverse mix of groups.
What is the meaning of "Muromachi" culture?
It refers to the refined culture of the Ashikaga shoguns who were headquartered on Muromachi Street. The elegant cultural style that the Ashikaga promoted has become known as Muromachi.
What eventually led to the financial collapse of the samurai and daimyo class in Tokugawa Japan?
It was expensive to maintain two residences and live in luxury in Edo. The temptations of luxuries in Edo, as well as more sophisticated pleasures and the heavy costs of maintaining alternate residences at Edo, gradually bankrupted the warrior class.
What characterized Zen-influenced art?
It was notable for its spare and simple designs. Zen ideas of simplicity permeated the arts and culture. The Silver Pavilion built by the shogun Yoshimasa epitomizes Zen austerity. Aesthetes celebrated the beauty of imperfect objects, such as plain or misshapen cups or pots. Spare monochrome paintings fit into this aesthetic, as did simple asymmetrical flower arrangements.
Which of the following statements describes the aesthetic favored by the Zen-influenced Muromachi culture of Japan?
It was notable for its spare and simple designs. Zen ideas of simplicity permeated the arts and culture. The Silver Pavilion built by the shogun Yoshimasa epitomizes Zen austerity. Aesthetes celebrated the beauty of imperfect objects, such as plain or misshapen cups or pots. Spare monochrome paintings fit into this aesthetic, as did simple asymmetrical flower arrangements.
What non-Chinese group established China's Qing Dynasty?
Manchus The Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) was founded by the Manchus, a non-Chinese people who were descended from the Jurchens, who had ruled north China during the Jin Dynasty.
During the civil war period of the Tokugawa Shogunate, which group controlled the urban economy?
Merchant families In most cities, merchant families with special privileges from the government controlled the urban economy. Frequently, a particular family dominated the trade in a particular product and then branched out into other businesses. Japanese merchant families also devised distinct patterns and procedures for their business operations.
What fueled the growth of Japanese cities during the seventeenth century under the Tokugawa Shogunate?
Migration of the underemployed In the seventeenth century, underemployed farmers and samurai, not to mention the ambitious and adventurous, thronged to the cities. As a result, Japan's cities grew tremendously.
Which of the following caused the Japanese shogun Toyotomi Hideyoshi's attempts to conquer Korea to fail?
Ming assistance to the Koreans After Japanese forces succeeded in capturing Seoul and Pyongyang, Chinese armies arrived to help defend Korea, and Japanese forces were pushed back from Pyongyang. A stalemate lasted until 1597, when Hideyoshi sent new troops. This time, the Ming army and the Korean navy were more successful in resisting the Japanese.
What warlord became the ruler of central Japan in the mid-1500s and transformed the fishing village of Nagasaki into Japan's largest port?
Oda Nobunaga The first daimyo to gain a predominance of power, Oda Nobunaga won control of his native province in 1559 and then immediately set out to extend his power through central Japan. To increase revenues, he promoted trade by eliminating customs barriers and opening the little fishing village of Nagasaki to foreign commerce; it soon became Japan's largest port.
Sixteenth-century European traders were most interested in acquiring what from China?
Porcelain and silk Chinese porcelain and silk were the major attractions for European traders.
Refer to the map East Asia, ca. 1600 to answer the following question. Click the image to view full-size. According to the map, which country had laid the most widespread trading claims circa 1600?
Portugal According to the map, Portugal had the most widespread trading claims, spanning from the East Indies to west of the Mughal Empire.
How did publishing in China change during the Ming Dynasty compared to earlier times?
Publishing boomed, with many works of popular fiction being printed. By the late Ming period, publishing houses were putting out large numbers of books aimed at general audiences. These included fiction, reference books of all sorts, and popular religious tracts. By the sixteenth century, more and more books were being published in the vernacular language (the language people spoke), especially short stories, novels, and plays.
What multiethnic Chinese empire added Taiwan, Tibet, Mongolia, and Chinese Turkestan (Xinjiang) to its territorial holdings in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries?
Qing The non-Chinese Manchus founded the Qing Dynasty in 1644 and put together a multiethnic empire that was larger than any earlier Chinese dynasty. The Qing added Taiwan, Mongolia, Tibet, and Chinese Turkestan to their realm by the 1750s.
What was the primary goal of the voyages of the Ming admiral Zheng He?
Reviving the tribute system of earlier dynasties Chengzu, the third Ming emperor, tried to revive the tribute system of the Han and Tang Dynasties by authorizing an extraordinary series of voyages to the Indian Ocean under the command of the Muslim eunuch Zheng He.
Refer to the image Daimyo Procession to answer the following question. Click the image to view full-size. What did the shogun's system of alternate residence for the daimyo give rise to over the course of the seventeenth century in Japan?
Roads The system of alternate residence meant that some daimyo were always on the road. The constant travel of daimyo with their attendants between their domains and Edo, the shogun's residence, stimulated construction of roads, inns, and castle-towns.
With what other Asian power did the Manchus negotiate treaties in 1689 and 1727 to settle borders and regulate trade?
Russia In 1689 the Manchu and Russian rulers approved a treaty defining their borders in Manchuria and regulating trade. Another treaty in 1727 allowed a Russian ecclesiastical mission to reside in Beijing and a trade caravan to make a trip from Russia to Beijing once every three years.
What was the name for the warrior class in early modern Japan?
Samurai Samurai refers to the warrior class.
What happened when economic advancement caused the decline of slavery in Korea during the Chosŏn Dynasty?
Slaves were replaced with sharecroppers. With economic advances, slavery declined. When slaves ran away, landowners found that it was less expensive to replace them with sharecroppers than to recapture them. Between 1750 and 1790 the slave population dropped from 30 percent to 5 percent of the population.
Which of the following was a method by which the Manchus kept their banner groups loyal to the Qing state and not to their own group?
Soldiers from defeated peoples were divided among different banner units. When new groups were defeated, their members were distributed among several banners to lessen their potential for subversion.
What provided stability to the first century of Manchu rule of China?
Stability of imperial rule For the first 135 years of the Qing Dynasty, China was ruled by only three rulers, each of them hardworking, talented, and committed to making the Qing Dynasty a success. Two, the Kangxi and Qianlong emperors, had exceptionally long reigns.
What did the shogun Toyotomi Hideyoshi seize from Japanese peasants in 1588 to limit any potential insurrections?
Swords Hideyoshi did his best to ensure that future peasants' sons would not be able to rise as he had. His great sword hunt of 1588 collected weapons from farmers, who were no longer allowed to wear swords.
What change to Mongol culture pacified relations between Mongols and the Ming Dynasty?
The Mongols converted to Tibetan Buddhism. The Mongols twice threatened the Ming, but in 1577 the third Dalai Lama accepted the invitation of Altan Khan to visit Mongolia, and the khan declared Tibetan Buddhism to be the official religion of all the Mongols.
efer to the map East Asia, ca. 1600 to answer the following question. Click the image to view full-size. What does the map suggest about Portuguese maritime activity in the Indian and Pacific Oceans?
The Portuguese made coastal claims and established trading ports. The Portuguese established trading enclaves throughout East Asia and India.
What global connection helped deepen the crisis in Ming China?
The drop in silver from Japan and the New World caused a shortage of silver in China. China had begun to rely heavily on silver, and when supply decreased, this led to a rise in rents and riots among farmers who had to pay taxes in silver.
Which of the following statements describes the eunuchs who served the Ming emperors as government officials?
The eunuch-led bureaucracy was huge and included a secret service to investigate corruption and sedition in the government. In Ming times, the eunuch establishment became huge; by the mid-sixteenth century, seventy thousand eunuchs served throughout the country. Tension between the eunuch bureaucracy and the civil service was high. Chengzu even set up a eunuch-run secret service to investigate cases of suspected corruption and sedition in the regular bureaucracy.
Why was it common for the sons of merchants in Ming China to study for the civil service examinations?
The examination system was the only way for merchant families to rise in status. Families that for generations had pursued other careers—for example, as merchants or physicians—had more opportunities than ever for their sons to become officials through the exams.
Refer to the image Presenting a Horse to the Emperor to answer the following question. Click the image to view full-size. What evidence of the Qianlong emperor's power can be inferred from this painting of horses being offered him in tribute by a group of Kazakhs?
The respect given him by others The emperor's advisers all allow space around the Qianlong emperor, and the Kazakh presenting the white horse kowtows, which suggest the great respect shown the emperor.
Why did Ming officials order the end of the voyages of Zheng He in 1433?
The voyages were deemed too expensive. Officials complained about their cost and the modest returns of the expeditions, and in 1433 the voyages of Zheng He stopped; after 1474, all of the remaining ships with three or more masts were broken up and used for lumber.
Which of the following made officials of the Ming Dynasty reluctant to grant trading privileges to the Mongols?
Their reluctance to let the Mongols grow stronger The Ming did not want the Mongols to grow stronger and wanted to limit their privileges.
How did the Ming government help equalize regional influence?
They established a system of quotas to determine the number of candidates each province could send to the capital to take the final civil service exams. By this system of quotas, the Ming hoped to keep the wealthiest areas from dominating the exams and, by extension, the civil service.
What step did the early Tokugawa shoguns take to maintain stability in Japan?
They froze social status and prescribed rules for the behavior of each class. To maintain stability in the face of a growing population, the early Tokugawa shoguns froze social status, enacting laws that rigidly prescribed what each class could and could not do.
Although the position of upper-class women in Tokugawa Japan was somewhat worse than in earlier periods, what was one benefit they gained over previous periods?
They gained authority within the family. Wives gained authority within the family. If their husbands were away, they managed family affairs. If their husbands fathered children with concubines, they were their legal mother.
How had Japan's marriage and family systems changed by the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries?
They had become more patriarchal, with women losing their earlier more prominent role in high society. By the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, Japan's family and marriage systems had evolved in the direction of a patrilocal, patriarchal system more like China's, and Japanese women had lost the prominent role in high society that they had occupied during the Heian period.
Which of the following statements characterizes the Qing state's approach to establishing its authority in China?
They maintained the political institutions of the Ming Dynasty. The Qing put in place policies and institutions that gave China a respite from war and disorder. However, most of the political institutions of the Ming Dynasty were taken over relatively unchanged, including the examination system.
In what way did the Ming Dynasty reverse government policies of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty?
They reinstated civil service examinations. Reversing the policies of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty, the Ming government recruited almost all of its officials through civil service examinations.
How did farmers during the Ming Dynasty improve the fertility and health of rice paddies?
They stocked the rice paddies with fish. Farmers began to stock the rice paddies with fish, which continuously fertilized the rice fields, destroyed malaria-bearing mosquitoes, and enriched people's diet when eaten.
Which factor helped bring about China's population growth during the Qing Dynasty?
Warmer climate Between 1700 and 1800, the Chinese population seems to have nearly doubled, from about 150 million to over 300 million. Population growth during the eighteenth century has been attributed to many factors: global warming that extended the growing season, expanded used of New World crops, slowing of the spread of new diseases that had accompanied the sixteenth-century expansion of global traffic, and the efficiency of the Qing government in providing relief in times of famine.
Refer to the map Tokugawa Japan, 1603-1867 to answer the following question. Click the image to view full-size. According to the map, in what area of Japan were most of the major daimyo domains?
West According to the map, most daimyo holdings from 1603 to 1867 were around or to the west of Kyoto.
Refer to the image Interior View of a Kabuki Theater to answer the following question. Click the image to view full-size. What is the medium of the kabuki scene depicted?
Woodblock print Kabuki had a close connection to the art of the colored woodblock print, both of them flourishing in the eighteenth century. Not only were there prints made like this one, showing the inside of a theater, but actors were often depicted in single sheet portraits, adding to their fame.
The sparseness and simplicity of Japanese Nō theater, developed into high art by the actor and playwright Zeami in the early fifteenth century, reflected the values of
Zen Buddhism. Zen ideas of simplicity dominated the artistic aesthetic during the Ashikaga Shogunate, when Muromachi culture flourished. Nō was performed on a bare stage with a pine tree painted across the backdrop. One or two actors wearing brilliant brocade robes performed, using stylized gestures and stances. The actors were accompanied by a chorus and a couple of musicians playing drums and flute. Zeami argued that the most meaningful moments came during silence.
Which of the following statements best describes the nature of Zheng He's voyages?
Zheng He's voyages were designed to impress foreigners, and upon arrival he sent peaceful messages, gifts, and invitations to visit China. At each stop, Zheng He went ashore and sent messages about peace, offered lavish gifts, and invited rulers or their envoys to visit China.
What former novice monk distinguished himself in combat against the Mongols and eventually declared himself emperor of the Ming Dynasty?
Zhu Yuanzhang Zhu Yuanzhang was a former novice monk who distinguished himself in combat against the Mongols and developed into a brilliant general. After his armies took Beijing in 1368 he declared himself emperor of the Ming ("Bright") Dynasty. As emperor he was known as Taizu or the Hongwu emperor.
What was China's reputation in Europe in the early eighteenth century?
ts Great job! The correct answer is: China enjoyed a positive reputation. Voltaire saw advantages in the Chinese political system, and its medical practices drew considerable interest.
In the last decade of the fourteenth century, the government of the Ming Dynasty launched reforms aimed at
reforestation, by planting some 1 billion trees. In 1391 the Ming government ordered 50 million trees planted in the Nanjing area. In 1392 each family holding colonized land in Anhui province had to plant two hundred mulberry, jujube, and persimmon trees. In 1396 peasants in the present-day provinces of Hunan and Hubei in central China planted 84 million fruit trees. Historians have estimated that 1 billion trees were planted during Taizu's reign.
During the reign of Qianlong, both private and government firms in China produced
textiles. Through Qianlong's reign, China remained an enormous producer of manufactured goods and led the way in assembly-line production. The government operated huge textile factories, but some private firms were even larger. Hangzhou had a textile firm that gave work to 4,000 weavers, 20,000 spinners, and 10,000 dyers and finishers.